Christmas with her fam

This year my family had Christmas pretty early. We did this because it was Dan's family's year for us to spend Christmas with them and then my brother-in-law has work so the first weekend in December was the best weekend for everyone.

We drove down on the first Friday of December and the roads were much better than the previous week! Our two hour trip took us two hours. Hallelujah! Well, actually, we were in the car for a little longer than three hours but we didn't go to my family's. We drove down to Sandy, Utah. But the point is, bad weather didn't keep cause us longer than planned to get to where we were going.

We drove down to Sandy because we were meeting my family in Salt Lake on Saturday to have some fun together. We went and stayed with my aunt and cousin and their husbands. We figured out that it had been over three years since we had been to their house! We really need to visit more often! We had a good time with them. I made homemade noodles with my cousin for the homemade chicken noodle soup we were having for dinner, which was certainly an experience but a lot of fun! We played games, laughed at the dogs who were insanely jealous of Liv, and checked out a light show together. If you are in the Sandy area, you should check it out {next year, of course}. It was pretty fun. I thought Liv might like the lights but she was promptly asleep once we were in the car. So she didn't get to see the lights. Too bad for her!

Livie really loved Simon!

This was actually the house next to the one with the light show. Feeling competitive, perhaps?

Can you see how jealous that dog is?! She was so mad that my cousin would spend time with someone other than her! I was cracking up!

The next day we slept in a bit {as much as you can with a baby, you know?} and then met my family at Chuvi Duvi's for lunch {it's a little Mexican food place}. Then we went to The Gateway mall and walked around, spending most of our time in Barnes and Noble. Then we drove over to Temple Square and bundled up to go see the lights. I love Temple Square at Christmastime! It is so beautiful! Though this time there were a TON of people. I had never seen so many people at Temple Square. It was crazy, especially crossing the road when two giant waves of people would cross and practically crash into each other. I almost got ran over by a group of young boys at one point. Crazy crazy. I certainly could have done without that. While we were at Temple Square, we spent a bit of time in the Distribution Center and Deseret Book {can you tell where we like to go?}. After spending an insanely long time in book stores, we walked around Temple Square and saw all the beautiful things there are to see. It was pretty crazy - there were a TON of people there! I couldn't believe how many people there were, especially whenever we crossed the road. It was like two huge waves crashing into each other. One time I almost got bowled over by an over-exuberant group of young boys who did not part their wave to let me through - and I couldn't move to the side because I was practically caged in on both sides. Another time we didn't get across the road before the lights changed so people were honking at us and trying to drive while we were still crossing. Fantastic. But, the square was still beautiful. I love that place at Christmas time. {I'll share a couple photos from the square later . . .}

After that, Dan and I drove to my grandparents' house to stay the night. It was kind of a long drive, but that's okay. We made it! Liv was so tired of being in her car seat by the time we were through with that day! She had spent almost the entire day in it! Once we got to my grandparent's house, we pulled her out and let her play on the floor. Then she began rolling back and forth. She had rolled over the previous day, but mostly on accident. At grandma and grandpa's, she learned how to roll on purpose and she loved it!

The next morning we got up early and went to church with my family and then we went back to the house to exchange Christmas presents. We had such a good time and everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. It was a fun Christmas!

These guys just can't get enough of Liv whenever she is around!

My Farmor adores her!

I don't know why, but Liv really seems to enjoy cuddling with her uncle DK.

These are my good lookin' brothers. I sure love these guys!

My grandma was saying how grateful she was for family.